Written by Jeff Parker
Penciled by Kev WalkerLines are drawn and secrets are revealed as the darkly PROVING GROUND sets off. The Raft is full of action as candidates vie for selection on the second squad of Thunderbolts, BETA TEAM! The main team isn’t too happy about Warden Walker’s initiative to expand their ranks, but even they are curious: out of the Marvel Universe vast pool of powerhouse criminals, who will make the cut? Many are called, but in this issue few are chosen!
This issue, Jeff Parker and Kev Walker’s Thunderbolts ease into a bit of a slow stretch — intentionally, of course, as they lay the groundwork for “Beta Team,” the next great idea that will almost certainly explode in Luke Cage’s face. But in a book where the principal cast are already getting a bit cramped when it comes to subplot space, is introducing an entire second team really a smart move? Let’s ruminate more on this after the jump.
Yesterday in my Avengers Academy review I said that that book and Thunderbolts were pretty much Marvel’s hidden gems. While it features a fairly big-name cast member — Luke Cage, on loan from the Avengers — this is a title that always seems to burn brightest when it’s tucked away into the fringes of the Marvel Universe. There, it can dredge up the forgotten and the justly forgotten, do whatever it wants with them, and throw them back into the pond. Over the years, the book has played host to nearly as many villains as have existed in the Masters of Evil’s various incarnations — and now, it seems poised to amass its biggest roster ever.
I’m not really sold on this idea. On the one hand, it’s not actually a bad one. Setting up a B-team of Thunderbolts heralds, among other things, the inevitable Thunderbolts vs. Thunderbolts, and the two-team paradigm has actually functioned fairly well in Thunderbolts before, when Fabian Nicieza alternated issues between Team Earth and Team Counter-Earth a decade ago. Nonetheless, it feels like the current core set of characters are treading water a bit, so adding five or six more seems to be a risky idea. Already, we have Luke Cage, who can’t really have too much happen to him because he’s a New Avenger in his day job; Songbird, M.A.C.H.-V, and Fixer, who don’t really seem to have a coherent subplot between the three of them; Man-Thing, who wants to dry-hump Moonstone and that’s about it; Moonstone, Juggernaut, and Ghost, who mostly just seem to stand around engaging in semi-villainous proto-Seinfeld (shades of Priest’s Deadpool); and Satana, who joined, like, half an issue ago. This is leaving out support characters like John Walker and Troll, and members who proved temporary, like Hyperion. Still, it’s a deep cast with a lot of potential for shenanigans. Are we that stuck for ideas?
I feel like I’m doing Jeff Parker a disservice by having this reaction, though. He’s a smart guy, and I’m sure he’s got a plan in mind. Besides, like I said above, it’s not a bad idea. It just feels like Thunderbolts is becoming more of a plot-driven book, and less of a character-driven one, which is truly a shame because the cast that they have to work with is a potentially phenomenal one. The ‘B’-plot this issue, while the veteran T-Bolts scout out potential Beta-Teamers, involves Cage, Satana, et al. going to a haunted castle for what could accurately be termed as “some reason,” and fighting ghosts and zombies because they’re pretty much there. There’s the hint, of course, that Satana might betray them, but… didn’t Hyperion just do that?
All of this makes it sound like I didn’t have much fun reading it, which isn’t true. Even when it’s coasting, Thunderbolts is better than a good three-fourths of the rest of Marvel’s output. The devil’s in the details, of course — moments like a bigger prisoner bullying puny Calvin Zabo pay off when it’s revealed that Zabo is so dangerous he needs three laser rifles pointed at his head just to walk down the hallway. There’s also the banter between the three steady heavies on the team as they watch the Beta Squad proceedings, commenting on who they think will or won’t make it — the thing is, these are great moments, but they only build character in drips and drabs, when they build character at all. I want something meatier by now, something that really knocks me on my ass. If this was just one issue where I felt this way, okay, yeah, not every issue’s a home run. But it’s been a few issues now and I still feel like I have no idea what direction the book’s headed in, and not in a good way — it’s not the thrill of a roller coaster, it’s wondering if the guy in charge of the hike remembered his compass. Sure, the scenery’s gorgeous, but…
Continued below
Speaking of gorgeous scenery, I love Kev Walker. This is a book about people who have the potential for acts of great power and greater ugliness — there’s something Kirbyesque in the way he does things. Even when Kirby drew “beautiful” people, they were never really that glamorous, or if they were, it was never separated from a certain sense of brutality, like the kirby-dot energy crackling under the surface. Here, though, maybe Beta-Team artist Declan Shalvey should have been called in. Walker is better with the big action, but Shalvey is better with the body language and emotions — Walker seems to have absorbed the pensive stares of Steve Dillon and the brutish glowers of Eric Powell, but it’s a limited palette, not suited to an issue that’s probably two-thirds conversation. One interesting detail, though, is that in the pages inked by Jason Gorder (I think), the thinner line betrays an influence I’d never have expected: hints of Art Adams.
Thunderbolts is reliably enjoyable this month, just like it is every month. That said, when the bar is so consistently high, I start wanting to see the creators try and jump it. Enough nameless giant monsters, enough one-shot ghouls and goblins. Enough coasting. The team here — both in terms of creators and characters — are more than capable of rising to a challenge. They just need to start challenging themselves.
Final Verdict: 7.0 / Browse, leaning toward Buy
